This is the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
COVID-19
The Latest
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	News Anti-vaxxers have stolen an anti-Nazi group’s identity
Around the world, black-and-white stickers have been popping up on lampposts and bus stops. “The Nazis had a phrase that covered all abuses of the state: It’s for your safety,” one says in blocky black letters. “People in 1940s Germany didn’t realize they’d been brainwashed by the media and government either,” screams another in all-caps….
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	Opinion Facing the Delta variant, my congregants are lonely and afraid. We are making hard choices together
As a rabbi, I want to do the right thing for my congregation. But what is the right thing? I am the spiritual leader of a small synagogue in Sarasota, Fla. My congregation is older, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially devastating to them. The unexpected isolation was bad enough, but when it continued…
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	News Synagogues made COVID-safe High Holiday plans. Then came Delta.
(JTA) — The leadership team at Ikar, a synagogue in Los Angeles, had just begun planning to move their services indoors. They had gone through a year of virtual services followed by several months of outdoor services for members vaccinated against COVID-19. Then the Delta variant hit. Now the synagogue, like many across the country,…
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	Fast Forward Covid-busting ‘hand sanitizer for the nose’ goes on sale in Israel
Enovid, a new nasal spray that counteracts SARS-CoV-2, among other viruses, is now on sale in Israel. Although Israel approved Enovid as a medical device with a claim to protect from viruses, Phase II clinical trials in the United Kingdom found statistically significant evidence that the spray can prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and…
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	News With vaccines scarce at home, Central and Latin America Jews journey to the US
Samuel Hayon, a Venezuelan living in Miami, was shocked when he went to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital to try and get the COVID-19 shot in February. “I just ran into the entire Hebraica Israeli!” he said, referring to Caracas’s Jewish community. Hayon had noticed a trend that would only grow in the coming weeks and…
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	Opinion Dropping my kids off at Jewish summer camp taught me how to let go
For many, our slow-motion exodus from the pandemic has yielded a harvest of mundane yet miraculous firsts — handshakes, hugs, houseguests, days back in the office, unmasked cappuccinos at our favorite cafes and many more. I have savored these reunions with life as I once knew it, yet none of them prepared me for dropping…
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	Fast Forward GOP Washington state lawmaker apologizes for wearing Yellow Star of David
A Washington state lawmaker has apologized for wearing a yellow Star of David, a universal symbol of the Holocaust, during a recent speech decrying the state government’s coronavirus vaccination campaign as well as restrictions that have been in place since the pandemic began. “It’s an echo from history,” Jim Walsh, a Republican member of the…
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	Fast Forward Baruj Plavnick, 69, rabbi whose synagogue was used as vaccination center, dies of COVID
(JTA) — BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Bernardo Javier “Baruj” Plavnick, 69, the Argentine rabbi who opened his Buenos Aires synagogue for use as a vaccination center, died of COVID-19 on May 20. Pardes, the community founded by Plavnick in 1992, announced in February that it was establishing a vaccination center inside the synagogue. Some…
 
Most Popular
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	Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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	Sports It’s so cool that Sandy Koufax was there for that
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	Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
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	News Mamdani opposes Zionism, but wants New York public schools to teach about it
 
In Case You Missed It
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	Fast Forward 2 of NYC’s 5 public pension funds are vulnerable to a mayor-backed Israel divestment push
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	Fast Forward What to know about ‘Not On Our Dime,’ Zohran Mamdani’s bill targeting donations to Israeli settlements
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	BINTEL BRIEF She just wants to be a good person. But she’s overwhelmed by the state of the world
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	Fast Forward Why Jeremy Corbyn’s support for Zohran Mamdani is fueling antisemitism fears
 
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